Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created for HBO by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. It is an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, the first of which is titled A Game of Thrones. The episodes are mainly written by Benioff and Weiss, who are the executive producers alongside Martin, who writes one episode per season. Filmed in a Belfast studio and on location elsewhere in Northern Ireland, Malta, Scotland, Croatia, Iceland, the United States, Spain and Morocco, it premiered on HBO in the United States on April 17, 2011. Two days after the fourth season premiered in April 2014, HBO renewed Game of Thrones for a fifth and sixth season.

The series, set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos at the end of a decade-long summer, interweaves several plot lines. The first follows the members of several noble houses in a civil war for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms; the second covers the rising threat of the impending winter and the mythical creatures of the North; the third chronicles the attempts of the exiled last scion of the realm's deposed dynasty to reclaim the throne. Through its morally ambiguous characters, the series explores issues of social hierarchy, religion, loyalty, corruption, civil war, crime, and punishment.

Game of Thrones has attracted record numbers of viewers on HBO and obtained an exceptionally broad and active international fan base. It received widespread acclaim by critics, although its frequent use of nudity, violence and sexual violence has attracted criticism. The series has won numerous awards and nominations, including a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Drama Series for its first four seasons, a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Television Series – Drama, a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in both Long Form and Short Form, and a Peabody Award. Among the ensemble cast, Peter Dinklage won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for his role as Tyrion Lannister.

Plot:

Game of Thrones roughly follows the three story lines of A Song of Ice and Fire. Set in the fictional Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, the series chronicles the violent dynastic struggles among the realm's noble families for control of the Iron Throne. As the series opens, additional threats emerge in the icy North and in the eastern continent of Essos.

The novels and their adaptation derive settings, characters and plot elements from much of European history. A principal inspiration for the novels were the English Wars of the Roses (1455–85) between the houses of Lancaster and York, reflected in Martin's houses of Lannister and Stark. Most of Westeros, with its castles and knightly tournaments, is reminiscent of High Medieval Western Europe. The scheming Cersei, for instance, calls to mind Isabella (1295–1358), the "she-wolf of France". She and her family, as depicted in Maurice Druon's historical novel series The Accursed Kings, particularly inspired Martin. The series also combines such varied inspirations as Hadrian's Wall (which became Martin's great Wall), the fall of Rome and the legend of Atlantis (ancient Valyria), Byzantine "Greek fire" ("wildfire"), Icelandic sagas of the Viking Age (the Ironborn) and the Mongol hordes (the Dothraki), as well as elements from the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) and the Italian Renaissance (c. 1400–1500).The series' great popularity has in part been attributed to Martin's skill at fusing these disparate elements into a seamless whole that appears credible on its own terms as an alternative history.

"The Sopranos in Middle-earth" is the tagline showrunner David Benioff jokingly suggested for Game of Thrones, referring to its intrigue-filled plot and dark tone combined with a fantasy setting. In a 2012 study, the series was listed second out of 40 recent U.S. TV drama series by deaths per episode, with an average of 14.

I think this needs to have it's own thread because it's that GREAT!I would really love to hear what you guys think of this wonderful show. But if you haven't watched it, I really recommend you to watch it. I promise you, it's awesome.

Come and let us discuss Game of Thrones here in this thread.

Last edited by Kevin on Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I was really into the show up until this season where I thought the episode standard went south and the story got a bit boring and too extreme(I mean that in a way I can't watch more than 3 episodes of South Park in a row because they are so extreme in their humour). All in all, it is a great show, but as many shows prior, it's standard is slowly going south.

As far as characters go, I could write about them a lot. But I'll just say that I've never really hated Joffrey that much as I find Cersei much more irritating. There are some good and bad role choices, but one can hardly avoid that in a series as complex as this.

mandich wrote:I was really into the show up until this season where I thought the episode standard went south and the story got a bit boring and too extreme(I mean that in a way I can't watch more than 3 episodes of South Park in a row because they are so extreme in their humour). All in all, it is a great show, but as many shows prior, it's standard is slowly going south.

As far as characters go, I could write about them a lot. But I'll just say that I've never really hated Joffrey that much as I find Cersei much more irritating. There are some good and bad role choices, but one can hardly avoid that in a series as complex as this.

Censored because of spoilersI don't think their standards went south but I agree that the story got boring sometimes. But just look at the Crow's fight against the "10,000" men beyond the wall. That episode was so good even though Ygritte died but still, they fucking killed giants and shit and mammoths, etc.

I also didn't hate Joffrey that much since I knew from the beginning (when he was introduced to the Starks) that he was the antagonist (and he was). For me, he's just an asshole who killed one of Sean Bean's character.

I hated Cersei because: a.) She's a bitch b.) She's her brother's bitch c.) Her uneven weird teeth that I see every time she smiles. and d.) Her character is unlikeable even in the books! She's just pure evil

Also wonder why George killed Rob Stark in the wedding like holy crap, why?! Just when I thought Rob was going to be the "King in the North".

Really got into that show recently as well, after Direct TV gave me a few months ago a free trial of HBO for a few days and they happened to be doing a marathon of GoT. Gotta admit that I was also a little disappointed with last season though, definitely not as attention-grabbing as the previous seasons before that. Still looking forward to the new season though.

Andrew wrote:I haven't gotten into it yet, but I'm planning on having a marathon.

I didn't start watching it until right before this last season. Had myself a nice marathon and some group viewings. If you know anyone who hasn't checked it out and is interested in viewing it, you should try to meet up and watch together. It will hook you in.

Parts of the recent season was boring because that part of the book was also the same, boring.Guess what, parts of the show next season will again be boring based on those particular parts in the book.

I finally got into the show a couple of months ago, with a huge binge on the first four seasons. For the first ten minutes or so of the first episode, I have to admit that I was thinking "People are really into this? Really?", but shortly after that, I was completely hooked. Been keeping up with this season, and just caught the latest episode last night.

To that end...jeez. I mean, the show has had some downer endings to episodes, but that just might be the darkest. The Red Wedding is still up there seeing as how we lost a bunch of characters with it, but that was just disturbing. Ramsay's definitely now at the top of my "characters I want to see get a brutal comeuppance" list.

Yeah i guess there is the money earnings to consider to why it wouldnt be themselves that leaked it i guess, still funny how it has only just started picking up speed once you get passed the leaked episodes.

I've been watching GoT and kept up with the first 4 seasons, but I'm no longer interested enough to waste my time on it.

All my friends who watch it act like blinded fanboys who can't keep me up date without saying "best show ever" or something similar how GoT is superior to everything ever on TV, so I don't really know much about S 5.

Yeah, it appears that I liked the earlier episodes more than others, but the last two episodes in particular have been very strong as far as action and storyline progression. Tyrion and Dany are my two favourite characters, so it's cool to see them on the same page. As I understand it, that hasn't happened in the books (yet), but so be it, I say; adaptations are always going to have some differences and take some liberties.

Would that be Shireen getting burned alive? Man, that was a brutal scene to watch, even without showing anything too graphic. Ser Meryn Trant's scenes in the brothel are highly creepy and "I want to see him get his comeuppance" as well.

yes imo both of those were worse than what everyone seemed to flip out about. in fact the sansa thing is not even top 3 for me, not sure how i would rank it over all but surely not even top 3 worst things to have happened

The thing is, villains are supposed to do villainous things. I can understand if some people find certain scenes confronting and the show too uncomfortable to watch as a result, but I think that's a line you had to have drawn a long time ago. It's not like it's glorifying the acts, or holding the characters up as being virtuous: they're supposed to be reprehensible acts by reprehensible people.

i agree. when people complained about sansa incident i simply would say "you do know what show you are watching right?" the fact that people were shocked was amazing to me. episode 9 had something that was honestly hard for me to watch but i am not going to say the show went to far or anything. i want a realistic (in fantasy terms anyway) show and these horrible acts would happen all the time. maybe not on the level as the last show but certainly rape would be a very common occurrence. i mean hell it happens all the time in the world we live in now

To be fair, for anyone who has been the victim of sexual assault, I could understand being upset by that scene and not wanting to watch the show any more. If you've been through that and are suffering PTSD and whatnot, by all means avoid anything that could be triggering, and GoT does have confronting scenes. But for anyone in general who feels it crossed the line...well, Dany was essentially raped in the very first episode of the series, which as I understand it, was a departure from how that relationship was portrayed in the books. These are difficult and confronting scenes, but they're not being used lightly, or for cheap shock value. They're being done to establish the full extent of certain characters' nastiness.

If only people were as up in arms about these things happening in real life as they are in fiction...but that's another discussion entirely.

also i understand why people could be upset by rape scenes but i do not think they have been that brutal in game of thrones and not on par with what happened last week to both girls or even having your penis chopped off, though people hated him so it was ok i guess. also like you said rape is not new to the show and one needs to assume that dany was raped numerous times off screen as well.

On top of that, I also think that some people may have been growing weary of the show and not really enjoying it any more, and controversial scenes present them with an opportunity to leave in a huff. After all, indignation makes a stronger statement than quietly deciding "Yeah, I don't think this show's for me any more". It's the culmination of their dissatisfaction, and the perfect excuse to quit and make a bit of a scene while they do so.

Having run a video game website for going on fourteen years now, I've encountered that once or twice before.

mp3 wrote:The fire scene I found pretty hard to watch, I won't spoil it for anybody who hasn't seen it yet but I was glad when that ended.

that was honestly one of the hardest scenes i have seen in anything ever. easily would rank top 5 all time hardest thing for me to watch. now maybe it hits me harder than some because i am a father to a little girl and could not imagine anyone doing that to their child. the way he tricked her into (in his mind) giving him permission to burn her alive was pretty fucking low also.

this episode is unique for me as i truly believe each episode was better than the last. because of that its easy for me to say this has been the best season simply because the best episodes are fresh in my mind. i think i need to let this season settle in before i choose where to rank it

I don't know about it being the best, but I certainly don't feel it's the worst, either. I'd say I've enjoyed it as much as any other season so far. There have been a couple of slow moments, but also some really big scenes and developments as the season has gone on.